AT&T Sued For iPad, iPhone Data Over Billing → I verified this and tried to engage ATT........

Greetings

Let me start by saying I have an unlimited dataplan.

Over the past couple years, I have noticed that the data usage numbers seemed odd. Just as the article points out - I was being billed for data while my phones were either off or connected to a WiFi network.

I collect netflow data so I tried to show ATT the data that was flowing on my home network from my IPhones and compared it to what ATT was billing as 3G data usage. I got no where - and I can be very persistent. I escalated this ticket and finally received a lame response saying the actual data billing times are batched to there is no relation to what is shown on the bill and reality.

I also tried to push this issue on the ATT Direct Dslreports forum and got the same answer.....

I also tried to point out to ATT that even though my phone was connected to the 3G network (via my home microcell) and WiFi at the same time - they were billing me for 3G data. In actuality, th iPhone was sending large amounts of data via the microcell (3G) INSTEAD of the wiFi connection (verified with Netflow).

I would love to join this suit!!!!!

Does data flow over the microcell? If so, they're charging you data that you provide them?

Wow.

Yes. They clearly state that data from the microcell is not unlimited and deducts from your data plan. You also use your plan minutes too if you are making voice calls unless you pay $20 for the privilege of unlimited calls.

But I use wifi at home anyway so it doesn't matter to me.

What you say is true - as long as you dont look

I am well aware of how MC minutes/plans work.

I am talking about time periods while the phones are connected to both the WiFi and MC. The ONLY way you can see this is by doing per-IP data analysis using a tool like a netflow analyzer or by doing raw packet captures.

YES data does flow over the Microcell connection WHILE WiFi connected. I cannot analyze the MC data as it flows inside an encrypted VPN tunnel but the volume shows its more than just keep-alives and I can produce side by side graphs for a given time period to show the iPhone wifi usage and MC usage.

I gave all of this to ATT and got no where.......

Thank you sir!
You just confirmed what I had noticed for sometime with ALL the carriers:

Inadequate (out-dated) billing computation accounting methods.

The system is broken.
It rounds off to highest, not definite.
They know it.
They won't admit it because if they did, decades of inaccurate billing will need accountability.

I had issues with ATT years ago when I then switched to Comdata. With Comdata, I would see billing of calls down to seconds, not rounded to minutes. Who talks to exact minute???

Now with data packets, we are seeing pushes (mail, growl,...), VOIP (Skype..), and the usual web traffic packets. And there is the data of the phone (firmware updates, OS updates, ...) along with any metrics the phone provider collects.
Limiting the data plan (2Gb or 5Gb or any specific number) is merely a sham that ___ knows. Offering only two choices is really no choice at all. A heavy user will exceed the limit, and a small time user will exceed the limit (rarely). But when they do, $$$.

One thing positive about ATT over VZW, atleast ATT has rollover minutes...

You would need to show damages before you can join a suit. If you have unlimited, then you pay a flat rate and have no damages. Your efforts seem like a huge waste of time to me...

My high school son has 200mb plan. Pays for it himself so chose the 15 dollar plan. He is VERY careful to keep tabs on data use. He is on wi-fi nearly everywhere, including school, so over the past 6 months he has topped out at 90mbs at most. Yesterday he did the data call and saw that he was at 115mb at 8am. He is 26 days into billing cycle. Went through a normal day of use. Last evening at 10:59pm he got two text messages at the exact same time, and I also received two email messages at the exact same time. The first text/email said you are at 65% and the second one said you have gone over and will be billed extra this month. We looked his data usage up and he has three entries for Feb 10. First is 11a.m. at school when he was at weight training and his phone was locked in locker. 69mb charged to data use at this time. So 115+69, he should have gotten the text about being at 65%, and the one about 90%, but he did not. Then last night, when he was home on our wifi, he had two 8pm entries 10 minutes apart. One for 37mb and one for 25mb. So yesterday he used 131mb in one day.

ATT rep said leaving safari open on the multi-task bar would use this much data. Though I NEVER close safari and I NEVER have had huge chunks of data go through like that. She also said all att phone users have to turn their phones off for 5 full minutes every day to get a "fresh" signal from the tower. Fresh being her word. So maybe that is why my son didn't get texts in time, she said. But what about the emails I got at the same time he got the texts? Do you get your email in a timely manner, she asks? I said, they both were sent from att at 1059p.m.!!!! Timely manner...??? They both came in at 10:59pm, February 10 even if I open my mail a week from now. The point I was trying to make to her was that we received, you are at 65% and you are over at the exact same time.

So the moral of the story is: You can check the data all you want by calling in or visiting the web but if ATT is really 12 hours behind in updating your data usage, or you get hit with a bunch of batched stuff, you can't possibly help but go over. And if att is sending out a text that says you are at 65%, or 90%, 12 hours after you actually are that is something ATT users should know. They do have a little disclaimer at the bottom of my email saying sometimes it takes 72 hours for data usage to be accurate. Yikes! No wonder people are going over. And since he didn't get a 90% email this 12 hour delay in data reporting explains what happened.

So we switched him to the higher plan, backdated, so he could save 5 bucks, and he downloaded a data meter for his iphone so it will hopefully keep track and he may switch back again later. But I thought I would show an example where you would go over and not even realize until it was too late no matter how religiously you checked data usage. And we still don't really know what the 131mb culprit may be...
-greer